1,720,983 research outputs found
Dynamic tests to study liver function
No full textTwo approaches have generally been used to assessing liver function: one is to measure the products of liver synthesis, the other is to monitor hepatic clearance function. The exogenous dyes that can be used to study liver function are sulphobromophthalein (BSF) and indocyanine green (ICG). One valuable way to measure hepatic function is to use non-toxic substances (stains, sugar, drugs) that are selectively metabolized by the liver and determine the rates of metabolism of these substances in vivo. The antipyrine clearance test is the most common and correlates well with the degree of liver damage. The caffeine clearance test is beneficial in severe liver lesions, but practically useless in the case of moderate liver damage. The galactose clearance test can be used early in the clinical course of jaundice to distinguish between hepatocellular disease and biliary obstruction. The MEGX test is useful as a real-time method for quantitatively assessing pre- and post-transplant liver function. In short, quantitative liver function tests are not suitable for use in screening for liver disease. They are more complex to perform and more expensive than conventional biochemical tests, but superior in monitoring the degree of liver dysfunction
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The concept of Quality of Life in organ transplantation
No full textThe goal of organ transplantation is not only to ensure the survival of individuals with end-stage heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas, and small bowel diseases, but also to offer patients the health they enjoyed before the disease, achieving a good balance between the functional efficacy of the graft and the patient's psychological and physical integrity. Quality of life (QoL) assessments are used to evaluate the physical, psychological, and social domains of health, seen as distinct areas that are influenced by a person's experiences, beliefs, expectations, and perceptions, and QoL is emerging as a new medical indicator in transplantation medicine too
Factors influencing renal function after liver transplantation. Results from the MOST, an international observational study.
No full textINTRODUCTION:
Renal failure, both acute and chronic, is a common complication after liver transplantation and can seriously jeopardise long-term outcome. Given organ shortage it should be essential to determine which patients will experience progressive and severe renal dysfunction after liver transplantation (LT).
AIM:
To correlate pre-transplant renal function and risk factors for renal failure after liver transplantation with occurrence of renal failure at 1 and 5 years after LT, with particular attention to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.
METHODS:
Data from patients enrolled in the liver section of Neoral MOST (Multinational Observational Study in Transplantation) study were used for the analysis. HCV status, pre-transplant serum creatinine level, recipient gender, recipient age, pre-transplant arterial hypertension, pre-transplant diabetes mellitus, pre-transplant antiviral therapy, the time of the transplant (before or after 2000) and immunosuppressive regimen were collected for each patient. Post-transplant occurrence of renal failure at 1 and 5 years was defined as a GFR<60 mL/min/1.73 m(2) (Stage III of the National Kidney Foundation).
RESULTS:
Data from 1948 patients enrolled in the study were considered. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was evaluated in 406 patients at 1 year and in 233 patients at 5 years after LT. The prevalence of HCV infection was 35% in the former and 37% in the latter. The median GFR was 70 mL/min/1.73 m(2) after 1 year and 69 mL/min after 5 years, significantly lower in HCV-positive (HCV+) than in HCV-negative (HCV-) patients both 1 and 5 years after LT (p<0.001). GFR before transplant correlated with GFR at 1 month, 1 and 3 years (p<0.0001 for all correlations). Multivariate analysis confirmed HCV status, pre-LT serum creatinine levels and recipient gender as significant predictors of 1-year GFR (p<0.001 for all three). Further analysis of the effect of recipient gender indicated that the only significant risk factor observed in both male and female patients was HCV positivity. Only 1-year GFR was an independent predictor of 5-year GFR (p<0.001). HCV+ status, cyclosporine (CsA) exposure, antiviral therapy and diabetes mellitus had no significant influence on 5-year GFR.
CONCLUSIONS:
HCV status and pre-LT serum creatinine levels were independent predictors of renal function a year after LT, together with GFR before transplant. The negative impact of HCV positivity on renal function was not confirmed in the long term, whereas the prognostic influence of an abnormal renal function in the early post-transplant period was more persistent
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Understanding of and attitude to xenotransplantation among Italian university students: impact of a 3-yr university course
No full textBackground: Young people, and students in particular, generally have a positive attitude to xenotransplantation. We reported previously that university students attending their first year approved of the idea of transplanting animal organs into humans. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a 3-yr course at various faculties on the university students' understanding of and attitude to xenotransplantation. Methods: University students in their fourth year at five different faculties of Padua University (Italy), who had previously been surveyed in exactly the same way 3 yr earlier, were re-administered an anonymous 19-item questionnaire on their attitude to xenotransplantation. Results: A total of 453 students completed the fourth year questionnaire (84 males, 369 females; mean age 24.6 yr, range 21-36 yr). Students were attending courses in Medicine (22.1%), Veterinary Science (16.5%), Agriculture (10.4%), Educational Sciences (22.1%) and Psychology (28.9%). In their fourth year, 85% of the students knew that animal organs could, at some stage, be transplanted into humans, 81.5% approved of this idea and 84% would accept an animal organ to save their life if necessary (these percentages were 88%, 78% and 76%, respectively 3 yr earlier). A significantly larger proportion of the students who approved of xenotransplantation were attending science courses rather than art courses, while no differences emerged as regards gender. Those who refused xenotransplantation justified their position mainly on ethical-moral (41.7%) and immunological (35.7%) grounds. Conclusions: As in their first year, so too in their fourth, University students were well informed about the feasibility of transplanting animal organs into human beings and those attending science courses were more likely to accept this idea than art students. Approval of xenotransplantation was much the same among fourth year males and females, whereas in the first year, male students had approved more than female students
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